Command Line Parameters
Bandizip for macOS supports the following command line parameters in Terminal.
How to open Bandizip in Terminal
- Use the "open" command to run the app file.
Bandizip runs as a single instance, just like when opened from Finder. Multiple instances are not supported.
open /Applications/Bandizip.app --args <archive>
open /Applications/Bandizip.app --args <command> [<switches>...] <archive> [<files>...] [<path_to_extract>]
open /Applications/Bandizip.app --args <bcommand> [<switches>...] [<files>...]
- Run the executable file directly.
A macOS app is a special type of folder called a package and it contains the actual executable inside. For Bandizip, the executable file is located as follows:
/Applications/Bandizip.app/Contents/MacOS/BandizipBandizip <archive>
Bandizip <command> [<switches>...] <archive> [<files>...] [<path_to_extract>]
Bandizip <bcommand> [<switches>...] [<files>...]
<archive> Archive
Perform the default task specified in Settings. (Usually open an archive.)
<command> Commands
| a | Add files to archive |
| x | Extract files with full paths |
| t | Test integrity of archive |
| d | Delete files from archive |
| c | Create new archive (Overwrite existing one with the same name) |
| rn | Rename files in archive |
<bc> Batch Commands
| bc | Compress multiple files/folders with the name of each. If existing archives have the same name, (archive-name) (2), (archive-name) (3) … are created. If a destination folder is not specified, the archives are created in the folder where each of the original files exists. |
| bx | Extract files from multiple archives to a destination folder. If a destination folder is not specified, the files are extracted to the folder where each of the archives exists. |
| bt | Test integrity of each archive. |
<switches> Switches
| - | Stop switch parsing |
| -l:<0...9> | Set compression level (0: store, 1: fast, 5: default, 9: maximum) |
| -r- | Disable recurse subdirectories (default) |
| -r | Enable recurse subdirectories |
| -aoa | Overwrite existing files without prompt |
| -aos | Skip and not overwrite existing files |
| -aou | Auto-rename extracted files For example, name.txt → name (2).txt |
| -zopfli | Use Zopfil as default encoder (slow) |
| -p:{password} | Set password for archive |
| -o:{dir} | Specify destination folder Only with x command and batch commands (bc, bx, bt) |
| -storeroot:<yes|no> |
-storeroot:yes Store root directory as top-level folder of archive
-storeroot:no Store no top-level folder of archive |
| -y | Assume Yes on all queries Close (de)compression windows on task completion if no error occurs |
| -ex:{list} |
Specify list of files to exclude when compressing -ex:hello.txt -ex:"*.bak" -ex:"*.bak;*.tmp" -ex:*\.git |
| -root:{dir} | Specify root directory in archive when compressing (-root:top_folder) |
| -fmt:{fmt} | Specify archive format (zip, zipx, exe, tar, tgz, lzh, iso, 7z, gz, xz) |
| -v:{size} | Specify volume size (-v:1000000 -v:1440k -v:100MB ...) |
| -cmt:{comment} | Set ZIP file comment (-cmt:Hello, -cmt:"Hello World!") |
| -cmtfile:{filepath} | Specify path of txt file used as ZIP file comment (-cmtfile:mycomment.txt, -cmtfile:"c:\test\my comment.txt") |
| -t:NN | Specify number of CPU threads used when compressing (-t:10, -t:1, -t:0) |
| -cp:NN |
Specify code page used when opening or extracting files (Bandizip x -cp:932 japanese.zip) Examples of available code page - Chinese Simplified: 936 - Chinese Traditional: 950 - Japanese: 932 - Korean: 949 - UTF-8: 65001 |
| -target:auto | Extract files to a destination folder using Extract Here (Smart) feature. If a destination folder is not specified, the files are extracted to the folder where each of the archives exists. |
| -target:name | Extract files to an archive-name folder in a destination folder. If a destination folder is not specified, the files are extracted to the archive-name folder in the folder where each of the archives exists. |
Examples
The following examples assume that the path below has been added to your execution papth.
/Applications/Bandizip.app/Contents/MacOS
To specify the execution path, edit the .zshrc file located in the root of your home directory. Enter the following line, save the file, and then reopen Terminal.
export PATH=/Applications/Bandizip.app/Contents/MacOS/:$PATH
Bandizip is subject to sandbox restrictions and when it is run from Terminal, it cannot determine the current working directory. File paths cannot be specified as relative paths to the current folder. You must specify paths as absolute paths or as paths relative to the home directory (for example, ~/Documents/smaple.zip).
Open archive
Bandizip ~/Documents/sample.zip
Create new archive (Overwrite existing one with the same name)
Bandizip c ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/src1
Bandizip c ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/src1 ~/Documents/src2
Add files to archive
Bandizip a ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/src/sample.txt
Bandizip a ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/src/sample1.txt ~/Documents/src/sample2.txt
Bandizip a ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/src/*.txt ~/Documents/src/*.jpg
Delete files from archive
Bandizip d ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/sample.txt
Bandizip d ~/Documents/sample.zip ~/Documents/*.txt
Extract files to destination folder
Bandizip x -o:~/Documents/dest ~/Documents/sample.zip
Add files to archive, set password as Passw0rd, overwrite existing files without prompt, and close the dialog box
Bandizip a -y -p:Passw0rd ~/Documents/test.zip ~/Documents/src ~/Documents/src
Extract files from multiple archives to one folder
Bandizip bx -o:~/Documents/dst ~/Documents/a.zip ~/Documents/b.zip ~/Documents/c.zip
Extract files from multiple archives to a destination folder using Extract Here (Smart) feature
Bandizip bx -o:~/Documents/dst -target:auto ~/Documents/a.zip ~/Documents/b.zip ~/Documents/c.zip
Compress multiple folders (a, b, c) with the name of each folder (a.zip b.zip c.zip)
Bandizip bc ~/Documents/a ~/Documents/b ~/Documents/c
Specify top-level folder of archive
Bandizip c -root:top ~/Documents/test.zip ~/Documents/abc.txt

Rename files in archive
Rename abc.txt to xyz.txt
Bandizip rn ~/Documents/test.zip abc.txt xyz.txt
Rename in subfolder abc.txt to xyz.txt
Bandizip rn ~/Documents/test.zip top/abc.txt top/xyz.txt

Rename AAA.txt to XXX.txt and BBB.txt to YYY.txt
Bandizip rn ~/Documents/test.zip AAA.txt XXX.txt BBB.txt YYY.txt
Compress multiple folders individually
Compress folders with the name of each, and create the archives in the destination folder
Bandizip bc -aoa -o:~/Documents/backup ~/folder1 ~/folder2 ~/folder3
~/folder1 → ~/Documents/backup/folder1.zip
~/folder2 → ~/Documents/backup/folder2.zip
~/folder3 → ~/Documents/backup/folder3.zip